The present invention relates to an electric vehicle designed to be supplied with electric power from the outside directly or through electromagnetic induction, during running or stop thereof, and an electric supply arrangement which is installed on/in a road on which the electric vehicle is running or stops, and designed to supply electric power to the electric vehicle directly or through electromagnetic induction.
Heretofore, there has been known a battery-powered electric vehicle which is equipper with a storage battery (secondary battery, rechargeable battery), and designed to rotate a motor by use of electric power stored in the storage battery, and drive wheels (road wheels) by a torque of the motor (see, for example, JP 2001-219733A). Electric vehicles including such a battery-powered electric vehicle are generally simple in structure, and free of emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and emissions of carbon dioxide causing global warming. Therefore, from an environmental standpoint, there is a strong need for accelerating diffusion thereof.
However, while the battery-powered electric vehicle requires to charge the storage battery when a charged amount of the storage battery is lowered to a lower limit, there is a problem that it is necessary to take a fairly longtime for the charging operation. For example, in cases where the storage battery is fully charged at a battery charging station, it is necessary to take a charging time of at least 30 minutes, or in cases where the charging operation is performed using a household charger, it is necessary to take a charging time of several hours.
Moreover, in the battery-powered electric vehicle, a runnable (travelable) distance based on one full-charging operation is significantly short as compared with an automobile equipped with a gasoline or diesel engine. In current commercially-available automobiles, the runnable distance is typically in the range of 90 to 160 km, and about 200 km at a maximum. Thus, in driving over a long distance by the battery-powered electric vehicle, it is necessary to frequently stop at a battery charging station and spend a fairly long time to charge the storage battery. Thus, the battery-powered electric vehicle has a problem of causing inconvenience to most users having not a few opportunities of long-distance driving. As above, despite a strong need for accelerating diffusion the battery-powered electric vehicle, it the above problems cause difficulty in actually promoting the diffusion.